Those are pretty vague questions, but since i'm quite happy with my own gentoo-xbmc-combo i'll answer them ttbomk.

1. xbmc-webif: if you run xbmc as a user other than root (which you should) you have to configure a port >1024 for it in xbmc (the client, obviously, has to connect to exactly that port.)
By default, no firewall-functions are installed in gentoo linux, so you shouldn't have to worry about that (see 5.). To check if the port is really open, you can start xbmc and run

Code:

netstat -ta

in another shell; the port must be shown as open.

2. sorry, i have no experiences at all with airplay, but my guess is: "no net==no airplay"

3. if this is not related to the network-issue, then it's most likely an xbmc/add-on-issue. do you use the same versions on the installations you compared? if you use unstable it might just be that (although i have not had any stability-issues so far)

4. sound: i found that the most difficult to configure, too. first make sure alsa is correctly installed and working.
the commands:

Code:

aplay -l
aplay -L
speaker-test <...>

help a lot.
then select the audiodevice which you want xbmc to use. you might have to write an .asoundrc-file (for the user running xbmc) for this (i had to do this to get hdmi-sound to work). if you change the audio-settings you often have to restart alsa and xbmc to activate the new settings.

5. network-connections are normally available for all users, so make sure that this works first. this might be related to question 3. you are not running any hardened or grsec-kernel or something like that?

Sound (hdmi) is working randomly, and xbmc have, a problems with plugins and internet connection (xbmc can download addons but cant use connection for download subtitles ora downad wether information).

Regarding Internet access, try setting your gateway address as the primary DNS server in /etc/resolv.conf. I had an issue where XBMC wouldn't download weather information and RSS feeds until I made this change.

Regarding Internet access, try setting your gateway address as the primary DNS server in /etc/resolv.conf. I had an issue were XBMC wouldn't download weather information and RSS feeds until I made this change.

Thanks for reply, but still no "full" internet connection. Even with DNS.